Wednesday, April 23, 2008

That, right there, is exactly why I said it's time to start up L'n'L again. I'm not as strong as The Terror of Santa Monica. The waves of terror and nausea that emanate from certain blogs and the newsmedia are tough for me to resist. I have to literally watch an episode of Babylon 5 (I'm just now watching it for the first time) and smoke some cigarettes in order for me to disengage from the chattering classes and remind myself that It's All Going To Be Okay.

Provided we don't blow off how much work has to be done and how important it is.

Which then reminds me that last few days' siesta actually involved me writing like a banshee in order to catch up with this semester's history class. I fell behind after a bit of the ol' gastroenteritis, and then hung around Club Sofa playing LEGO Star Wars for a few days afterwards. Dumb me.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

My kid starts the WASL today. I spent the morning cutting up cantaloupes, so that I could send "healthy snacks" to school.

Luckily, my kid is a lot more relaxed about it than a lot of kids. The teacher, Mr. Chew, says that he has had kids throw up on their tests and get physically ill in other ways, because the test is so stressful.

He stated, on the news last night, that his biggest objection to the test was that it was "cruel".

I have spoken with state Senator Eric Oemig about eliminating the WASL. This was when he was running for office, so he said something to the effect of "retooling" it. And he also has worked very hard to repair the NCLB, which I also think should be scrapped. Senator Oemig is a tremendous asset to our legislature; in addition to making education his central concern, he immediately introduced an impeachement resolution his first month in the Senate.

Personally I feel that there are so many regulations put on our educators that they have lost the ability to actually educate.

I hope that Mr. Chew's message gets out. I hope that this country recognizes the wisdom behind his civil disobedience.

Monday, April 21, 2008

I'm sooo not a race car person, it seems so pointless to me, and now, with gas prices rising daily, it seems like so much fiddling while the world burns. Still, this is hilarious - you gotta love the visual humor. Of course, as Melissa points out, where ever you find an accomplished woman, you'll find the idiots who feel compelled to downplay her accomplishments.Thanks to Bitty for posting the photo so I could steal it. Check out her blog, ya'll - Milo, especially - there's poetry and her son's a Marine in Kuwait/Iraq, though it doesn't look like she wants to dwell on it too much. I totally understand that one! Virtual hugs, Bitty!